Currently, seats, in particular aircraft seats, are provided with electrical actuators which allow the elements of the seat to be moved relative to each other.
Actuators are generally provided with potentiometers which allow the relative position to be determined for the elements which are controlled by the actuator in accordance with the state of the actuator.
During the installation of the seat, it is necessary to calibrate each actuator and in particular the potentiometer with which the actuator is provided. To this end, the seat elements controlled by the actuator are moved between their two extreme positions and the corresponding values recorded by the potentiometer of the actuator are stored.
The operator responsible for this calibration operation must therefore manually move the seat element between the two extreme positions thereof. To this end, he either uses the actuator by controlling it from the appropriate keypad, or manually moves the seat element by applying a force greater than the retention force applied by the actuator which is not supplied with power.
In practice, the movement of the seat element is made complex for the operator either by the fact that he is not close to the keypad or by the fact that it is necessary to apply a very significant level of force in order to overcome the retention force of the actuator.